I am no expert in health care, and certainly have no knowledge of midwifery or obstetrics.

I am no expert in health care, and certainly have no knowledge of midwifery or obstetrics.

Indeed, as a man, I have no personal experience of giving birth or of the exhaustion a woman feels after the ordeal.

But as the father of three boys, I do have some insight into what a woman endures at this time and how she feels afterwards, as I have watched and listened as my clan were painfully squeezed into this world.

With such precious memories in mind, I felt extremely uncomfortable when I read the diary-style feature of the Gazette's own writer Joanne Barrett on page seven of yesterday's paper.

Joanne's post-natal experience at James Cook just sounded as if something, somewhere, was going badly wrong.

And before there are any impassioned reactions from the folk who work at James Cook, this is not an attack, a criticism or even a frown about the midwives involved.

Indeed, I think Joanne's personal piece and our various reports and comment on the reasons for Guisborough maternity unit's temporary closure have specifically strived to hold the midwifery profession up high, underlining the efforts, skills and care offered by those dedicated staff.

But how was it that a woman who gave birth at 1am was politely asked to vacate her bed and sit in an armchair at 9.30am the same day, and was then back home by 11.30am?

The perception of the new mum-of-two on the spot, who happened to have the trained eye of a journalist, was that there were just not enough beds.

At one stage, Joanne told how a woman booked in for a Caesarian, a first time mum with her newborn and a pregnant woman waiting for an ante-natal appointment were all located in the same room as herself. Surely not all were in the right place?

Surely at least some element of post-natal care for uncomplicated births could be considered to relieve the stresses that are so obviously at play?

On the same page as this feature was a news update on the Guisborough crisis, with midwife chief Fran Toller explaining how the South Tees NHS Hospitals Trust was still "keen to re-open" Guisborough, how "cost was not an issue" but that recruitment was still very difficult.

Ms Toller explained that "midwives tend not to be mobile, so recruiting from other areas of the country tends not to bring in new people".

Now I've met Ms Toller several times, and to me she appears a totally committed manager who cares about patients and staff.

But when she talks about cost not being an issue, from what level of seniority within the Trust can she make such an argument? The same words were used by Trust bosses Bill Murray and John Foster when they met the public face-to-face at the meeting I chaired last year.

Both men said the Trust would go anywhere at any cost if the midwives were there to be had.

And it's this cost argument that I cannot get my head around. If cost no issue, then is the Trust seriously expecting anyone to believe that midwives cannot be recruited from around the country for the right bounty? Have they actually tried an advert offering relocation and a #1,000 bonus for successful applicants? And perhaps another bonus for those who stay on for a year, or two years?

If this sort of approach has been made then I'll cut this column out and eat it for tea (although I rather suspect that my menu will still be curry rather than paper tonight.) If such attempts haven't been made, then I would suggest a stressed system with a lack of beds and not enough midwives should prompt far more concentrated, imaginative and expensive recruitment measures. ASAP.